![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Arcade Archives: Touchdown Fever
Jan. 9th, 2026 09:01 amThis week's Arcade Archives release is... Touchdown Fever (SNK, 1987)
Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)
PSN
EU
US
Switch
EU
Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)
PSN
EU
US
Xbox
US
No Switch 2 release this time (similar to Chopper I) and the PSN version's not out until January 13th, so I'll update this with the working links later. Both the Japanese and English ROMs are included. Preference Settings allow you to control the player three side with player two controls (this is to more easily allow a player versus player game as when the game's set to four players, player one and player two are normally on the same team against the computer). Button Settings are similar to the ones for the other SNK Loop Lever games with the default being using the right thumbstick to control your passing direction, and other options letting you adjust the direction with buttons (no analogue settings for this though, make a note of that) and hold a button to lock direction, or tie aim direction to movement direction. You can also reverse the movement direction inputs, presumably to simulate player a multiplayer game on a cocktail cabinet.
No Switch 2 release this time (similar to Chopper I) and the PSN version's not out until January 13th, so I'll update this with the working links later. Both the Japanese and English ROMs are included. Preference Settings allow you to control the player three side with player two controls (this is to more easily allow a player versus player game as when the game's set to four players, player one and player two are normally on the same team against the computer). Button Settings are similar to the ones for the other SNK Loop Lever games with the default being using the right thumbstick to control your passing direction, and other options letting you adjust the direction with buttons (no analogue settings for this though, make a note of that) and hold a button to lock direction, or tie aim direction to movement direction. You can also reverse the movement direction inputs, presumably to simulate player a multiplayer game on a cocktail cabinet.
So here's something interesting, a pre-Neo Geo SNK ACA release that isn't on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection! Touchdown Fever was one of three games (the others being Touchdown Fever II and Fighting Soccer) that used an optical variant of the SNK Loop Lever, the difference being these allowed for much finer control than the eight directions of games like Ikari Warriors. Oh, and Touchdown Fever used a football for a joystick (thanks, ohfivepro!) which certainly stands out. It's also got some scorching-hot jams and the kind of SNK presentation you expect from this era. This is also the first rerelease of this game for quite a while, as it last appeared on PSP on SNK Arcade Classics 0 (Japan only) and as a PSP Mini on PS3, PSP and PS Vita (outside Japan only) so that's something, and I'm clearly running out of things to say because...
Ahem. Unfortunately, I'm at a particularly massive disadvantage this week- this is, of course, an American football game. I don't know American football. My entire knowledge of the sport is derived from game results shown on Channel 4 in the '90s (just before the cartoons, you see), watching other people play Super High Impact (SOMEBODY GET A BODY BAG!) and that one stage in Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! for the SNES. My understanding of the rules is lacking, to say the least (and the manual does say "Game rules may differ from actual American football rules" but it does define a few terms like Turn Over and Safety at least) and so this game is a real challenge for me. The controls are a little less than ideal too, but while this would definitely work better on real hardware so you have a hand free to mash the Run button (you can move without it, but going faster is always a better option), you don't always need to be aiming for a Pass, so maybe you might have more luck using the buttons to move your aim direction rather than the right stick. I would not recommend using the shoulder buttons for Run because mashing that gets very uncomfortable! There is a neat concession though- once you're moving in a direction, you don't have to hold it, you can just mash Run and head that way, so keep that in mind. Sorry I don't have much to say on this one, but please look forward to a complete repeat of this when we get the inevitable ACA release of Touchdown Fever II!